Flywheel balancing- anyone tried one of these?

[Jon Connolly]

Hi Paul

I agree with Dave + Bacca on this one ... sorry

Rather than can you afford to balance the crank ? can you afford not to ??

By the time you " hear or " feel " something it may well be too late ??

This is a pain with smallblocks and needs careful attention, but in the scheme of things you might be better to delay completion by a month or 2 than knacker it straight away ??

[Pete]

When I had the engine it had a steel flywheel and a steel SFI approved bell housing....

[db]

So are all steel flywheels created equal?

Pete ran the motor with a steel flywheel.
If I buy Baccas steel flywheel and fit that, am I ok or do I still have to get it all balanced?

If I do... why the hell would anyone ever use an engine that requires a complete stripdown and a £180 every time you change anything?

[Pete]

One of many reasons I went BB and neutral balance.

I have just had 2 original 6 Pak Con rods that were 25 grammes different, so imagine how far out a flywheel could be.........

[Cannonball]

crikey this aint no 8 grand screamer fit baccs flywheel or dave b,s fire the mtr and see how it feels it will be so obvious if its wrong, then you know it has to be done to the book,

but to keep faith pull a couple of caps now and look at the condition of the bearings so you know if its perfect before the deed,

i dont care for all this scaremongering crap in the end you lose all commen sense and wont dare use anything other than brand new.....

pretend that you are a 18 yr old kid without a pot to Bananarama! in what would you have done............ made do thats what.

[Dave-R]

One of many reasons I went BB and neutral balance.

Me too. Although it takes a lot of Mallory metal (or whatever it is called) to balance my six pack rods. But it meant it was easy to select a damper/flex plate/converter. And in the end I did actually replace the converter and flex plate anyway.

[Dave-R]

crikey this aint no 8 grand screamer fit baccs flywheel or dave b,s fire the mtr and see how it feels it will be so obvious if its wrong, then you know it has to be done to the book,

but to keep faith pull a couple of caps now and look at the condition of the bearings so you know if its perfect before the deed,

i dont care for all this scaremongering crap in the end you lose all commen sense and wont dare use anything other than brand new.....

pretend that you are a 18 yr old kid without a pot to Bananarama! in what would you have done............ made do thats what.

I can see that point of view Dunc. I am all for doing things on the cheap where possible. Probably not really much more work involved either if it has to be done in the car. Yes that is a good point. We are getting older and wiser but sometimes you still need to take a chance.

[Cannonball]

crikey this aint no 8 grand screamer fit baccs flywheel or dave b,s fire the mtr and see how it feels it will be so obvious if its wrong, then you know it has to be done to the book,

but to keep faith pull a couple of caps now and look at the condition of the bearings so you know if its perfect before the deed,

i dont care for all this scaremongering crap in the end you lose all commen sense and wont dare use anything other than brand new.....

pretend that you are a 18 yr old kid without a pot to Bananarama! in what would you have done............ made do thats what.

I can see that point of view Janet. I am all for doing things on the cheap where possible. Probably not really much more work involved either if it has to be done in the car. Yes that is a good point. We are getting older and wiser but sometimes you still need to take a chance.

wtf is this janet gig..............

[Dave-R]

crikey this aint no 8 grand screamer fit baccs flywheel or dave b,s fire the mtr and see how it feels it will be so obvious if its wrong, then you know it has to be done to the book,

but to keep faith pull a couple of caps now and look at the condition of the bearings so you know if its perfect before the deed,

i dont care for all this scaremongering crap in the end you lose all commen sense and wont dare use anything other than brand new.....

pretend that you are a 18 yr old kid without a pot to Bananarama! in what would you have done............ made do thats what.

I can see that point of view Janet. I am all for doing things on the cheap where possible. Probably not really much more work involved either if it has to be done in the car. Yes that is a good point. We are getting older and wiser but sometimes you still need to take a chance.

wtf is this janet gig..............

Sorry mate. I was just looking up a Janet Wareing on Facebook and got confused. My brain playing tricks on me. Sorry.

[db]

It was actually quite funny in a random sorta way

[Cannonball]

I can see that point of view Janet. I am all for doing things on the cheap where possible. Probably not really much more work involved either if it has to be done in the car. Yes that is a good point. We are getting older and wiser but sometimes you still need to take a chance.

wtf is this janet gig..............

Sorry mate. I was just looking up a Janet Wareing on Facebook and got confused. My brain playing tricks on me. Sorry.

your brain obv not fully sorted then, that facebook Bananarama! can do that to a guy, its for kids an women,

[Anonymous]

Wish I had some shares in Facebook, like the original 'facebook OFFICE' decorator L0L!

Back in the real World, where peoples get their hands dirty and don't see a computer, IpoD, smartfone from 8am to 8pm.
Some of us actually 'PRODUCE' something that can be sold or bartered for something else of value and therefore create an economy!!!
(In the Facebook World, Sims City etc., everyone is a millionaire driving a Veyron and have 25 girlfriends that all are models and own a Footbal team and live on a Troical Island, yeah right!)

Where was I???
There is alot of talk about stuff, (facebook twitter, etc) but very few actually doing STUFF properly LIKE ME.
I would not trust anyone to build me a V8 engine cos I know what can go wrong.
Balancing is one of them!!!
I had a 440crank balanced at a reputable engine shop, it was the only job I didn't do myself, on this particular build!
Guess what happened, it shock like a London Underground Wineo, on a Febuary night!!!
Never again, if I don't do the balancing myself, then it don't get built FULLSTOP.

So where does that leave you db9?
In the mysterious world of castcrank uncertainty!
Was the 360 ever balanced?
Was it balanced with a custom flywheel?
Where is the Steel Flywheel now???
Even if we find the Steel Flywheel is it gonna solve the problem?

Hopefully YES!

I would never trust to luck on a performance engine.
The last two engines I fitted were in this same postion, (balancingblues)
A casty 360 and a steely 400.
But in reality, all fully built engines are in this position, unless they are supplied with the Flexplate or Flywheel they were built or balanced with!
This is less of a problem with steel crank engines (neutral as a rule), but a massive problem with CAST crank engines after 1972.

I hope that this isn't seen as scaremongering or an excuse to make a Buck, just useful knowledge to anyone who cares to read it.
I have only ever balanced ONE crank that has been within tolerances, straight away without having to do any alterations!
That is out of hundreds!
They are never RIGHT, they never were, thats why some factory engines are betta than others, its all down to luck.
If you want take a chance or don't care anyways, then don't ask for an opinion, and definetly don't say ''I wish someone had told me''!!!
(This is a general statement and not pointed at any particular person alive or dead!)

I can assure everyone, a guess cannot be right, only close!
For some thats CLOSE Enough.

HH.

[Anonymous]

If you managed too wade throo that, then how's about this!

Did you ask the machine shop that built your new engine if they actually re-balanced it?
Its a standard thing at Evenden Engineering, every engine is checked!
It was probably wrong when it came in so its gonna be right when it goes OUT!
If you can't guarentee the engine balance and show the specific weights of all the rotating components, then you don't have a leg to stand on, if the engine goes TITSUP!
Because if it does go POP, the customer always blames the BUILDER!
He then blames the MACHINIST!!!
The machinist now blames the supplier for supplying bad parts or blames the engine 'owner' for not buying good rods, a steel crank, forged pistons, or dare I say it?

INCORRECT BALANCING!!! Could always be to Blame!

I'll get me coat and hide out in Hills for a year or two L0L.

HH

[db]

Thing is, if money and time allowed, I'd have it blueprinted, never mind balanced!

BUT, I'm really up against TIME and MONEY-
My car's not yet registered in the UK and as it's heavily modified, I HAVE to get it MOT'd BEFORE the local DVLA office closes and they tighten up the rules. THIS IS IMMINENT!!!
ALSO, I don't have the money to just do what i want!
I've just had to sell a bunch of stuff to pay for a new prop, the next lot on ebay was gonna be for a glass hood, now I have to Bananarama! it away on a steel flywheel!
I'll now have to find the money from elsewhere for the hood, this may take a few weeks so I may miss Will Autofetish's offer to bring it up for me... more bloody delays!!
It's a balancing (ha ha!) act you see. It's all very well saying 'you can't take a chance' but the alternative is to virtually give up!
Then throw a friggin hernia in the middle of all this and it almost ain't funny any more!

Now, where were we..
I bought the motor from Pete as a (nearly) BRAND NEW MP 360 SHORT BLOCK. No mention of balancing or any special flywheel so safe to assume it was an un-balanced cast-crank engine with over-the-counter steel flywheel. (The original flywheel is looong gone!)

My best option, in MY present situation, is to whack on an over-the-counter steel flywheel and get on with it!!!
I know some of you will disagree and that's fair enough, but I just don't have a realistic alternative.

Baccers, if you have one available, please PM me a price and whether you want to deal on my flywheel.

[latil]

You're right,even a junky 318 in there just to get the car to it's test will do,once it's legal then sort the proper engine.